Study on the Effects of Surface Treatment and Stitching on the Fracture Behavior of Composite LaminatesHong, S.Y; Hwang, W; Park, H.C; Han, K.S;

Abstract

The interlaminar fracture behavior of woven laminates under static and cyclic loadings has been studied using DCB(double cantilever beam) specimens. The effects of surface treatment and stiching on the fracture behavior of composite laminates are investigated experimentally. Fracture toughness has been improved by surface treatment because the surface treatment can change the fracture mechanism of laminates. SCB(stitched cantilever beam) model has been proposed to quantify the effect of through-thickness resinforcement(stiching) in improving the delamination crack growth resistance. Distributed loads which are transfered to through-thickness fibers can be calculated by the SCB model. And fracture energy increase due to the distributed load can be predicted by a power function of the distributed load. A new parameter agreed well proposed predict fatigue crack growth rate. The predictions using this parameter agreed well with the experimental data.